Things are a bit slow at Polis, I am heading to Larnaka tomorrow so there wasn’t a lot to do today. So Brandon, Dave, and I used the day as a chance to go to Paphos and visit some of the sites- I haven’t been to some of them in a few years. It turned out to be a great idea. We arrived at Paphos to see the mosaics at 8:21. The guards had to unlock the gate for us because nobody had been in yet. We were the only ones at the site for an hour and a half – it was fantastic, we had the place to ourselves. It was also overcast so it wasn’t as hot as it usually is when I visit Paphos, and it had just rained so the mosaics were very bright and really stood out. After visiting the mosaics and the castle, we stopped at Paul’s Pillar and it was amazing how much this site has changed over the years – you used to be able to wander all over the site, but now there are elevated walkways you are required to stay on as you walk around the site.
Last night on our way home from dinner we stopped at this small ice cream shop at the edge of the plateia. It was a very interesting experience, to say the least. The shop was a small room with one freezer by the door, with the words “Homemade Ice Cream” marked on it by hand. The old man running the place had been watching TV, which he left on and at a very high volume. He then proceeded to tell us about his life (for quite a while) and how he had been making the best ice cream on Cyprus for 36 
years. He then insisted that we have a cone with all eight of his flavors on it (strawberry, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, almond, banana, rose, and mandarin). I have to admit to not being a fan of many of those flavors. He then took a spatula and proceeded to put a little of this flavor and a little of that flavor on the cone, thoroughly mixing the flavors. I have to admit, it was actually good with all the flavors mixing together. We had a hard time leaving because he wanted to keep talking and followed us out into the street talking, and even started repeating his stories.
RSM
Ancient History Ramblings 